Lonesome Era

Jon Allen grew up in a small town in Connecticut in the Naugatuck Valley, and he's been drawing comics since he was a kid, initially inspired by reading Calvin and Hobbes in the newspaper. He went to school for illustration and got his MFA in painting. When he graduated in 2009, he moved to Brooklyn and put all his energy into making comics. Since then, he's worked as a barista, a studio assistant for a handful of painters, a UI/UX designer, and a storyboard and layout artist for a show on Adult Swim.

"A touching book that is sure to appeal to any reader who has tried to be the person they were meant to be." — BOOKLIST"Darkly funny." — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY“Painful, awkward, heartbreaking, and hilarious, exactly like adolescence was. A touching story about the bonds of friendship and the uneasy and often uncomfortable process of finding oneself.” – MIKE DAWSON (Freddie & Me, Troop 142)“THE LONESOME ERA is a sad and sweet tumble through the most chuckleheaded part of adolescence, where wrong choices battle worst choices for dominance under the crushing weight of others’ attempts to sort and define your identity.” — MISS LASKO-GROSS (A Mess of Everything, Escape from “Special”)"Allen's assured cartooning blends naturalistic dialogue with charming cartoon animals to create a story that's funny, poignant, and deeply relatable." — SOPHIE GOLDSTEIN (House of Women, The Oven)“Jon Allen has this really interesting style and pacing; it’s very understated.” — THE GUARDIAN“His droll comic timing and assured, slightly eccentric pacing enlivens any standard ‘burnout roommate’ tropes he draws upon, making for a highly entertaining read.” — THE COMICS JOURNAL“If there’s one thing that’s certain about Allen, it’s that his comics are going to continue to reach for their own high standards.” — BLEEDING COOL